I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 30

Qi Yan walked ahead in silence for quite a distance before her mind finally cooled down, only to realize Jiang Miao had been quietly following her the whole time.

She stopped and glanced at the dim ring on her left hand, suppressing the irritation in her heart as she tried to speak in a normal tone. “Should we just head straight to the roller coaster?”

Jiang Miao looked at the roller coaster looming nearby and suddenly said, “Or maybe we could switch things up, go check out the second floor first?”

After all, “Happy” hadn’t specified that they had to follow the floors in order. They could skip the obviously dangerous roller coaster and see what was upstairs first.

Qi Yan didn’t see any issue with that. The order didn’t matter, they’d have to try everything eventually anyway. So she nodded. “Sure, let’s go upstairs.”

The escalator to the second floor wasn’t far away. Sensing their approach, the previously stationary escalator suddenly whirred to life, lights flickering on as cheerful music and an announcement reminded them to stand steady while riding.

As they ascended, Qi Yan spoke up. “Earlier, with the carousel, we didn’t have time to discuss things properly. From the very beginning, this carnival has felt off. The most obvious thing is that it’s indoors.”

An indoor amusement park built inside a shopping mall, complete with a massive roller coaster? The design, with the first floor of the mall as its base, shot straight up to the ceiling, occupying almost the entire space. Anyone would find it unbelievable.

“It’s not like indoor amusement parks don’t exist in real life. There’s one in a mall near my place, but those are usually small-scale at most, a pirate ship that sways a couple of times without even going very high.” Qi Yan rested her hands on the escalator railing, her view expanding as they rose, revealing the absurdly oversized roller coaster.

“It’s definitely not normal. Based on my understanding of scripts, they don’t always follow real-world logic, but they usually don’t start off by blatantly violating common sense like this.” Jiang Miao rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “This carnival feels like it’s not even trying to pretend. It throws reality out the window right from the start making us ride a carousel with three ghost NPCs, outright revealing who’s a ghost in the game. It’s just players versus ghosts.”

The escalator soon reached the second floor. Qi Yan stepped off and remarked, “It’s like a giant horror escape room.”

“Beep-boop, beep-bop, beep-beep-bop, bop-bop-bop!”

The moment they set foot on the second floor, cheerful music filled the air, like children’s nursery rhymes. A small kiddie train slowly chugged past them. These kinds of trains were common in real-world malls, often found in children’s play areas where parents would take their kids for rides on weekends.

Except the train passing by now had no passengers just a bunch of stuffed animals sprawled across the seats.

The little train trundled along to the playful tune, circling the second floor of the carnival. Qi Yan followed its path and realized most of this level was filled with small arcades and games meant for kids and teenagers.

There were the familiar “King of Fighters” arcade machines from childhood, claw machines, and various carnival games like ring toss, target shooting, and balloon popping.

Each shop was meticulously designed, yet all were empty, devoid of tourists. As Qi Yan walked past, she could only see scattered plush toys lying on the floor. Her gaze swept over them without lingering.

Suddenly, the sound of the small train came from behind again, and it seemed to be moving much faster this time. Instinctively, Qi Yan dodged to the side as the train whizzed past her. On it, three little ghosts stuck their tongues out at her, making grotesque faces.

The sight of those three eerie, deathly pale faces startled her.

“HAHAHAHAHA! Scared you, didn’t we?!” The boy with the raspy voice cackled maliciously. “Hey, sis, come play with us! The claw machine up ahead is super fun!”

With that taunt, he rode off on the small train, leaving the other two girls silent, merely casting indifferent glances at them.

Qi Yan watched the three little ghosts disappear, her heart still pounding as she stomped her foot in frustration. “These three brats in this scenario love pulling pranks way too much.”

Jiang Miao pondered, “One of them must be the ‘Heart’ of this script.”

Qi Yan blinked in surprise. Having only cleared beginner scenarios, she wasn’t entirely familiar with all the rules of the script world. “Couldn’t all three of them be it?”

Jiang Miao shook her head. “The ‘Heart’ and ‘Eye’ of a script world are always singular. This world is actually pretty straightforward, the ‘Eye’ is that gate we have to unlock by completing all the games, and the ‘Heart’ is probably one of these little ghosts. Plus, I think among all these mini-games on the second floor, only the one they’ve chosen is the one we need to clear.”

Qi Yan agreed. “Yeah, the moment I saw all these open game stalls on the second floor, I knew we couldn’t possibly play every single one. I was originally looking for one with an attendant, but these brats just had to provoke us first.”

Well, since they’d challenged them, they might as well take the bait and see what game the ghosts had in store for them.

Once their goal was clear, the two didn’t hesitate. They sprinted after the small train, passing numerous empty game stalls along the way. Though devoid of customers, each shop was inexplicably still in operation, blaring cheerful music with an eerily perfect atmosphere.

No owners, no players just endless, meaningless operation. Someone was keeping them running like this.

And clearly, that someone had to be the “Heart” of this world.

But which of the three little ghosts was it?

Qi Yan couldn’t guess. Maybe it wasn’t even one of them, what if there was someone else hiding, unseen?

She didn’t dare jump to conclusions. She needed to interact with the three ghosts again, maybe fish for useful clues while playing their game.

After chasing the small train halfway around the second floor, they finally stopped in front of a large claw machine arcade. Panting heavily, Qi Yan looked up at the three little ghosts hopping off the train.

“Hehe, you sneaky adults are so weak, look how tired you are!” The raspy-voiced boy stuck his tongue out at Qi Yan, thoroughly enjoying his mockery.

Qi Yan gritted her teeth and retorted, “You little brats sitting on that mini train still have the nerve to laugh at us?”

“Hehe, even if we ran, we’d still be faster than you. Wanna give it a try?” The ponytailed girl smirked at her, eyes darting mischievously, clearly up to no good.

Qi Yan wasn’t falling for it. She shrugged and said, “No thanks. Racing you would be a waste of time, only a fool would take the bait. Just tell us, what’s the challenge this time? Catching plushies?”

“Of course!”

The hoarse-voiced boy and the ponytailed girl dashed into the shop first, followed by a quiet girl with a hime-cut hairstyle, who trailed behind them.

Qi Yan instinctively glanced at her, sensing something special about the girl that drew her attention. From the moment they’d met these three kids, the other two had been far more lively, while this one was so quiet she almost faded into the background.

Qi Yan kept her guard up. Compared to the noisy pair, this hime-cut girl intrigued her more, she seemed like a hidden mastermind lurking in the shadows.

The three kids and the two adults stepped into the claw machine arcade, where a staff member in a pink uniform emerged, wearing a face identical to Happy’s.

Qi Yan and Jiang Miao exchanged a glance, both immediately understanding what was going on.

“Hello, ladies. I’m the manager of the Freedom Claw Machine Arcade. You can call me Doll Happy.”

“…”

Incredible. Doll Happy.

These managers must all be fragments split from the guide NPC, or maybe the guide NPC was just playing multiple roles at once.

This dungeon was relatively simplistic, it didn’t have many NPCs, unlike Qi Yan’s first beginner dungeon with its intricate web of character relationships. Apart from the guide NPC and these three kids, there was no one else.

Despite the minimal setup, the sense of oppression it created was far from small.

The arcade was packed with all kinds of claw machines, dazzling in variety every type imaginable, both familiar and obscure. Alongside them were a few slot machines, operating on their own, occasionally spitting out coins without anyone touching them.

The three kids told the manager, “Uncle, we want to play with these two big sisters.”

The manager smiled warmly and asked, “And what would you like to play?”

“A claw machine and slot machine competition!”

Qi Yan and Jiang Miao looked at each other helplessly. No one cared about their opinions faced with the kids’ challenge, they had no choice but to accept.

The manager turned to them and asked, “Would each of you like to pick one of these two games?”

See? They didn’t even have the right to refuse.

Qi Yan raised her hand. “What happens if we lose the competition?”

The ponytailed girl piped up, “Nothing much! It’s just a little game!”

Jiang Miao eyed her suspiciously. “It won’t lock us in here permanently, will it?”

At that, the manager stepped in to explain, “Rest assured, visitors. The exit rules only require experiencing a few must-try attractions losing the competition isn’t one of them. The match is just to fulfill these three adorable children’s wishes. There’s no need to worry too much.”

When he spoke, his tone was gentle, yet every word carried an undercurrent of something more. Behind those perpetually narrowed smiling eyes seemed to lurk a malice that coalesced into an unnamed danger, making Qi Yan feel uneasy.

“Even if it doesn’t affect our ability to leave, perhaps something unexpected might happen during the game that could prevent us from leaving?” Qi Yan stared at the administrator’s face and asked slowly.

Just like the green-haired punk Qiangzi even though the carousel challenge had been cleared, he had vanished on the spot. There was definitely something seriously wrong here. Qi Yan couldn’t immediately figure out what it was, but she vaguely remembered that the three little ghosts disliked the green-haired guy and had openly expressed their disgust toward him.

Could mere dislike make someone disappear?

Qi Yan didn’t think it could be that simple or crude. If the little ghosts had no restrictions and could make people vanish at will, then this game might as well not be played at all.

Hearing her question, the administrator’s smile remained unchanged as he replied indifferently, “Who can predict the unknown in advance?”

Support I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite)